I used to regard the White Sox as a thing that people in households other than my own enjoyed. It was like the kids who had Sega Genesis instead of the superior Super Nintendo. Just sort of a bizarro "you're not really among your own" feeling when there's Sox memorabilia around. Growing up in the northwest suburbs, there weren't many of these people, so it never really bothered me. I don't think I felt like the Cubs/Sox back-and-forth hate really ramped up till about 2003, 2004. If not 2003 with the Ligues, then certainly once Ozzie started managing. I think the White Sox themselves are to blame for a lot of the tension, because they're the ones marketing and encouraging Cubs hate. The Cubs have, if anything, underadvertised. The White Sox have been actively selling an adversarial relationship to the Cubs for some time. The blue-collar brawling meathead north-hating jerkass thing is something they try to sell.

Personally, I don't like the White Sox at all, and I don't care for many of their fans, who buy right into what the team is selling. I actively want them to lose every game, but I don't make a big stink of it. I can talk with Sox fans who are civil, but the whole die-sox-white-fan act just wears me down. Frank. The bad feelings that come with Cubs/Sox just don't feel right, you know? It's almost too hostile. Fans of the Cardinals or Brewers don't upset me the way White Sox fans do.

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